At a current record of 16-5, the Utah Jazz have been the most dominant team not just in the West, but in the league as a whole.
How have they managed to get this strong?
We will look at a few key statistics that help explain their strong play.
Currently, Utah is only 10th in points per game (113.8), but they give up the 3rd fewest points to opponents (103.8).
They also love the 3-ball, where they have four players who rank within the top 20 in 3-Pt field goals made, while also having four players in the top 20 of total field goals attempted. However, when we look at their team eFG%, their effective field goal percentage, is at .557, just above the league average of .534.
As mentioned in a previous article, the four factors of success, which include Effective Field Goal Percentage,Turnover Percentage, Offensive Rebound Percentage, and Free Throw Rate, correlate most closely with winning basketball games.
Where Utah dominates these advanced statistics are in offensive and defensive rebound percentage, as well as true shooting percentage.
Rudy Gobert, Utah’s starting center, ranks 6th overall in Offensive Rebound Pct (an estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor) at 14.0% and 3rd in Defensive Rebound Pct (an estimate of the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor) at 32.7%. Utah’s defence, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, is giving up the 3rd fewest points to opponents this year. And when an opponent misses a shot, there is a high percentage that Gobert grabs the defensive board. Once Gobert pulls down the board, the offensive is able to transition to attack, where players such as Royce O’Neal or Joe Ingles, both of which have True Shooting Pct.’s that rank them within the leagues top 10, hurt opposing teams with their scoring efficiency.
The True Shooting Pct measures shooting efficiency that takes into account 2 point fields goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.
An example of this can be seen below:
Additionally, Rudy Gobert ranks second overall in Defensive Win Shares (an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to his defence). It should come to no surprise that Gobert leads the league by some margin in terms of defensive points saved, even having a “Gobert” line.
Looking past the four factors of success, Utah ranks in the top 3 in Block pct. (an estimate of the percentage of opponent 2-pt field goal attempts blocked by the player while they are on the floor) and defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions), both of which are a result of Rudy Gobert.
So, while everyone seems to be enamoured by the offensive weapons Utah has in Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Jordan Clarkson, that is not the entire story. Rudy Gobert’s elite defensive statistics are the main reason behind Utahs success thus far.
Like the saying goes, offence wins you games, while defence wins you championships.
Works Cited:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2021.html